"I want you to find Barack Obama in the face of every young black man. I want you to recognize intelligence, kindness, and concern about our society in the faces of all young black men. Most of us have been trained to believe that just one color, whiteness, is synonymous with goodness. We’ve been persuaded, silently, against our integrity, to make young black men, like my son, and young black women, like Obama's daughters, invisible. I want you, I want us, to acknowledge that reality, un-train ourselves, open our hearts. Reflecting on his own experience of racism, my 10-year-old child asked me to tell you this: “Think before you speak. And only speak positive words.” I want you to end racism, thought by thought, word by word."
One of the five winners of Tony Labat's public monologue project at SFMOMA